More news from Scandinavia: the smokeless tobacco product “snus”, when used by pregnant women, is associated with a slight increase in the rate of stillbirths as compared to women who used no tobacco, a survey of 611,000 Swedish women has found. Published in Epidemiology, the study found that 0.5 percent of women who used snus suffered a stillbirth, compared to 0.3 percent of women who used no tobacco. Among smokers, women who smoked nine or fewer cigarettes a day had a 0.4 percent chance of stillbirth, while women who smoked more had a 0.7 percent risk.
“It could well be that nicotine causes stillbirth in some cases,” says Dr. Ross. “But you’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize here and say, compared to what? Snus is still much safer than smoking cigarettes.”
